‘We would almost certainly fold’ – Irish clubs fear for their future amid coronavirus chaos

HIGH-PROFILE matches all across Europe are being arranged to be played behind closed doors owing to the coronavirus outbreak, but that rule has yet to be implemented in Irish football.

Yesterday, the Football Association of Ireland confirmed that there would no pre-match handshakes in line with “recommendations made by the World Health Organisation to minimise potential transmission of COVID-19″.

Should the FAI emulate the likes of La Liga and Serie A and opt to play a number of games behind closed doors, the measure could have a potentially catastrophic impact on domestic football clubs.

Unlike sides such as Juventus and Barcelona, Irish teams rely heavily on revenue generated from match-day income to stay afloat.

One such side who operate on a strict budget are Finn Harps. They say competing under such conditions whereby fans are required to stay away from stadiums could potentially put them out of business.

“We would almost certainly fold in that scenario unless there was outside assistance,” says Aidan McNelis, a board member and director of Communications and Engagement at Finn Harps, when asked about the prospect of playing matches behind closed doors for a sustained period.

“We have no backer with deep pockets — it’s fan owned, fan run, fan funded. Games behind closed doors would have us in massive trouble and quickly too.

“First the FAI on the brink of collapse and now this. A few months without an existential threat would be just lovely at this stage.”

He continues: “It’s a bit like the situation with the FAI where people were saying it might just fold and there’d be no league. It’s almost something that’s too big to plan for in some ways.

“You don’t want to be leaving people high and dry, but if the income dries up, how do we keep the players and management and that looked after? It’s pretty scary.